Singer Creates Medical Miracle

Tengger is a celebrated singer from Inner Mongolia， an autonomous region in northern China. He met Jula at a concert in the summer of 1997 when she came onto stage and presented him with a bundle of flowers. Jula was a dancer， 18 years younger than Tengger. They fell in love and began to date. Five years later they got married. They went to Australia for honeymoon. One day， Tengger felt so happy that he sang a few songs in the Mongolian to his heart’s content at a tourist destination. His singing attracted a large crowd.

On December 24， 2004， Jula gave birth to a baby girl， the biggest gift to the 44-year-old singer. They named the daughter Gargel， meaning the earth. In the Mongolian Language， Tengger means Sky and Jula means a magic lantern. Tengger was so proud of the combination of a magic lantern between the sky and the earth that he wrote a song in celebration of the birth of the daughter.

Tengger reached the height of his career after the birth of the daughter. He came to Beijing and doubled as a vice director of the China National Ethnic Song Dance Ensemble. He worked a busy program and traveled a lot. On October 28， 2007， he was at the International Folk Song Art Festival in Nanjing， Guangxi Autonomous Region in southern China when he got his wife’s call that their daughter was sick. The daughter was not yet three years old. The girl often fell for no reason. At first Jula thought the baby girl was being careless. But as the toddler fell more frequently， the mother began to worry. The diagnosis was spondylitis， caused by a virus infection. It might have paralyzed her legs forever.

Tengger flew home as soon as the performance was over. The next morning he appeared at the ward. The father and the daughter had a bear-hug. Tengger told her that he would spend all of his time with her from then on.

Gargel’s condition worsened. One day， Tengger found her became incontinent. He rushed to the doctor and learned that the daughter might spend her life in wheelchairs forever. Tengger took her to many other hospitals for second opinions. The opinions were unanimous: it would be a great success if the girl’s condition would become stable. Tengger was not to be deterred. He wanted to help the daughter get better. Then he told his manager that he would decline all performance contracts in a long time to come. Many people felt sorry， for Tengger was approaching fifty and there would be no contracts coming his way if he now turned offers down.

Tengger knew， but he was determined to help his daughter. In a conversation with a friend， he said that he as a father must take responsibility for the family. If he failed to give his daughter security and happiness， he as a man would be a failure and singing would be meaningless.

He spent a lot of time taking care of his daughter at the hospital ward. He learned to cook Mongolian dishes. Everyday there would be a quality conversation session between father and daughter. They would speak Chinese for fifteen minutes and then Mongolian for another fifteen minutes. Tengger hoped the dialogue in the Mongolian would help the daughter know more about the Mongolian culture and the Chinese would help the daughter grow and develop better in a macro-environment.

Tengger learned from doctors that in treating spondylitis， medication is important. Massage therapy and psychological consultation also help. Tengger bought TCM books on massage and began to learn about acupuncture points and massage. With Tengger’s help， Gargel’s condition became stable. After a few months of acupuncture and massage therapy， Gargel began to have a feel in the lower half of her body. She could stretch her lower legs.

However， the little girl had become more and more silent. She smiled a little in response to her parents. But when her little brother was around， she was usually silent and faced the window.

Tengger knew that his daughter would become happy only when she recovered. He increased the massage time to three hours a day. In the spring of 2009， the paralysis in the legs decreased and the top ends of her thighs gradually had a feel.

One day during a massage session， Tengger was singing a song and to his surprise， found Gargel singing along. This made the father wonder if his daughter inherited his singing talent. He tried another song. And to his surprise， the daughter managed to sing the song from beginning to end. Tengger learned from doctors that music was very effective in spondylitis treatment.

Tengger was excited. He bought a horse-head fiddle， a typical Mongolian string instrument. He picked some simple and joyful Mongolian folk songs to teach Gargel to sing. With the accompaniment of the fiddle， the daughter learned a few songs. Greatly encouraged， Tengger conducted an hour-long “Tengger Music Time” every evening. With the encouragement from the enthusiastic father， Gargel learned to sing more than 30 songs. Inspired by the progress his daughter had made， Tengger found he was eager to write songs. He composed “The Moon in Clouds”， a very beautiful melody and lyric about the love between father and daughter.

One day in March 2009， Tengger was playing “Galloping Horses” on the fiddle and Jula was dancing to the melody when the mother found the daughter’s little feet moved rhythmically. Tengger stopped playing to take a closer look. But as the music stopped， the little feet stopped moving too. Tengger played again and the feet danced in response again.

Excited， Tengger rushed out of the ward and ran into the office of the attending doctor. In broken sentences， the excited father explained what had just happened. Hearing the news， the hospital director and doctors and nurses came to the ward. They were amazed by the miracle. Excited， the director said that the feet movement meant the recovery of the nervous system was progressing from the thighs to the ankles. The director said it was time for the girl to practice standing and walking again.

In a few months， Gargel was able to walk for about 100 meters with the help of her father. In order to give more strength to the leg muscles of Gargel， Tengger brought the daughter on a singing show to wards across the hospital. With the accompaniment of the father， Gargel visited wards and sang songs.

One day， Gargel said she had watched a lot of video records of the father’s performance. She said she would be very happy if her father began to sing at concerts again. Yeah， Tengger decided it was time he staged a comeback.

In the spring of 2010， he launched a CD. All the songs in the album were created during his care of Gargel. The theme song was “The Moon in Clouds”.

In August 2010， Gargel was finally able to walk normally. A doctor said it was a medical miracle and that Tengger helped the miracle happen. □